Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions1
Hans Gerald Hödl
As one of the consequences of the Atlantic slave trade,distinct religionsevolved among the descendants of the Africans brought to the Americas. As arule,Afro-Americans in Latin America developedtheir own religions (like SanteríainCuba or CandomblØ in Brazil),based on West or Central African cultural matrices using elements taken from other traditions the slaves were exposed to,like Christianity and Spiritism. In contrast to Latin America, in North America under colonial rule and in ante-bellum USA there emerged, for the main part, evangelicalforms of Christianity amongthe African Americans.Inthe class of those new religiousgroups outside mainstream Christianity that came into being amidst AfricanAmericans at the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th century,wefind so called “messianic-nationalist sects” (Baer /Singer) that have in common acriticism of American society,acentral myth about aglorious pastofthe “black race”,and the strive to re-establish black supremacy in agolden futureofthe “black race”. Themythicalbackground concerning genealogies of races these religions share can be described as an inversion of white dualistic racist theories within the framework of Abrahamic religions:Dark skinned Africansare either regarded as the true Hebrewsorasthe true Muslims,“whites” as members of an inferior race.Some of these groups are openly separatist, whilst others have amore integrationiststance.This paper reads the development of some of these groups on the backgroundofasketch of African-American religioushistory and interprets it as amore or less fundamentalist reactiontoasituation of incongruence.
Hans Gerald Hödl is aProfessor at the Department of the StudyofReligions at Vienna University.His research and teachingactivities focus on Theory of Ritual, West African, Afro American and African AmericanReligions, Mormonism and Critique of Religion.
1Iuse the term “African-American” with reference to US citizens of African des- cent and the broaderterm “Afro-American” for inhabitants of the Americas stemming from Africa.
131
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl
1. Got my Mojo Working:2 African Elements in Afro-American Religions
Most Afro-Americansare the offspring of slavesthat have been broughttothe Americas during the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to the 19th century c.e. Africans from different regions, mostly from West Africa and West Central Af- rica, have been subject to the so called triangular trade.3 They have also brought their religious traditions with them.But there is aremarkable difference between the way thesetraditions have influenced the development of Afro-American religions in the countries of former Europeancolonieswith catholic background and in those under predominant protestant rule.Inthe former countries, as arule, more or less definedAfro-American religious bodies came into being, in which some features of Iberian Folk-Catholicism and 19th century sSpiritism4 were put into the framework of (mostly:West, but also Central [Kongo]) African cultural heritage,5 so that one can clearly establish arelationship of these religions with
2“Got my MojoWorking” is ablues song composed by Preston Foster (a white US American actor) made famous by Muddy Waters (a black musician). “Mojo” is aloving charm of prominence in Louisiana conjure and “Hoodoo”. According to Long 2001, p. 82, “RobertFarris Thompson traces mojo to the wordmooyo,bywhich the Kongo people mean the indwellingspirit of acharm”.Alas,Icould not find that passageon pp.105 and 117 of Thompson sbook “Flash of the Spirit”, as cited by Long in note 20 on p. 280 of her work (although Ifoundareference to “toby” on p. 105, according to Long s quotation). Neither “mo(o)yo” nor “mojo” are listed in the index of Thompson sbook (“toby”islisted, under the category “charms”, p. 305). 3The Trans-Atlantic slavetrade originated at the beginning of the 16th century and increased steadily until the 18th century,during whichanestimated total of 6,494,600 Africans have been sold into slavery in the Atlantictrade (for numbers,see Lovejoy 2013, pp.46–50). Although slave trade began to be prohibitedbyEuropean states and the USA since the beginning of the 19th century (Lovejoy2013, p. 135), there has been trade in slaves from Africatothe Americas until 1866 (with atotal number of 3,873,600 African slaves exported from 1801 to 1866;see Lovejoy 2013, p. 141), named “the largest human migration to date” by Lovejoy 2013, p. 135. TheTrans-Atlantic slave trade outnumbered the Muslim slavetrade across theSahara, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean during that time (approx. 3,000,000 Africansfrom 1500–1800;see Lovejoy 2013, p. 68).For ashort overview on the Atlantic slave trade see Collins/Burns 2014, pp.212–226. 4Onthese transformations in Cuban Santeríasee Hödl 2010. 5The Yorbµ kingdom of Oyo,which gained wealth through its involvement in the ˙ ˙ slave trade (like the neighbouring West African kingdom of Dahomey) seems to have started taking thesupplyofslaves from within at the beginning of the 19th century,at which time its power also began to weaken until its fall in the era of approx.1823–1836 (Law 1991, pp.296–298;307–308). This might have had an effectonthe dominance of Yorbµ traditions among Afro-American religions in LatinAmerica. According to Lovejoy,the slavesexported from the Bight of Benin during that time “were heavily
132
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions
(West and Central) African religious traditions.6 Furthermore,there is an ex- change going on between somemembers of thosereligions and contemporary West African cults7 sharing those origins,and these Afro-Americantraditions are now open for members of non-African descent. Those Afro-Americansand Af- rican-Americans who embracethesereligions,such as Santeríaand CandomblØ, look to the African continent, mostly to West African peoples like the Yorbµ,the Ewe and the FonortoKiKongo-speaking peoples8 as their progenitors.9 Fur- thermore,inthe course of the 20th and 21st centuries,some of these religions have developed to players among religions of the world that are attractive for white Latin- and US-Americans as well as for Europeans. In this vein, they have also been interpreted as acontribution that Africa has made to the landscape of the world sreligionstoday.10 Thesole distinct Afro-Americanreligious tradition that cameinto being in North America seemstohave been thepractice of “Voodoo” or “Hoodoo” in Louisiana.11 Zora Hurston held that this practice was brought there by slaves who
Yoruba in origin”(2013, p. 142);nevertheless,the total number of slaves taken from West CentralAfricabetween 1801 and 1866 was nearly 5times the number of those taken from theBightofBenin (Lovejoy 2013, p. 141). 6Literature on that topic is abundant;asthis article focusses on North America,it cannot be discussed here in any detail. Aprecise description of the developmentofCuban Santeríacan be found in Brown 2003. It captures both transmissionofAfrican Elements and construction of an African past (see especially chapters 2&3,pp. 62–162);for Yorbµ elements in BrazilianCandomblØ,see,e.g., Smith Omari-Tunkara2005. Although many scholars stress the Yorbµ elementsinthese traditions,there are also elements from other traditions to be found, e. g.,Fon, Ewe and Kongo. 7Iusethe term “cult”here in aneutralway referring to organized groups of wor- shippers of different deities or of divination practices (likein“cultic milieu”), not as a derogatory term (like in “anti-cult-movement”). 8For theorigins of slaves in the Trans-Atlantic trade –the greater part of which was taken from West CentralAfrica as asingle supplierand West Africa from Senegambia to the Bight of Biafra –see Lovejoy 2013, pp.45–61. 9This way,the process of cultural and religioustransformation that hadcharac- terized the development of the religious traditions in question has led to new forms of cultural exchange:citizens of “New World” countriestravel to West Africa to be initiated into one of the traditional or neo-traditional cults there.Anexample would be Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi (1928–2005), born Walter Eugene King, the first African-American to be initiated into Santería(in 1959). He founded Oyotunji African Village in Sheldon, South Carolina, in 1970 and travelled to Nigeria in 1972 wherehewas initiated into the Ifµ divination system (see Clarke 2009;onAdefunmi, ibid., p. 293). 10 Forthe tradition of Santeríainthe USA see,f.e., De la Torre 2004. Karade 1994 interprets Yorbµ traditions as one of the great religious traditions of theworld, and, e. g., parallels certain Orisha with the 7chakras of the Yogic tradition (ibid.,pp. 38–46). 11 There is much debate about the terminology.“Voodoo” stems from the Fonword
133
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl had come with their mastersfrom Haiti afterthe Haitian revolution at the be- ginningofthe 19th century,12 whilst Carolyn Long thinks that during the French rule in LouisianaAfrican slaves –asinother Catholic colonies–might have stuck to their African religious rites in the free time granted them by the “code noir”13 and remarks that as an effect of the influx of immigrants to the then US-American state in the aftermath of the Haitian revolution, alreadyexisting Creoletraditions had been fostered.14 There are somereports on this practiceinwhich asmall number of Gods can be identified as stemming from the Fonand Ewe people (whosetraditions have strongly influenced Haitian Vodou),15 and there has been a famousVoodoo QueeninNew Orleans,Marie Laveau.16 Today,wedonot find these Afro-Americancults17 in the southern states of the USA any more, with the exception of those imported from Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean during the 20th century.African traditions per se have only survived in the realm of folk medicine,conjure, and magic, like in the case of the famous mojo,alove charm prepared by hoodoodoctors.18 Although there is adebate among scholars whether African elementshave been preserved in African-American cultural
“Vodu(n)”, which has two meanings:1.areligious practice; 2. the supernatural beings adherents to this religious practice communicate with. Theetymology of the word is debated(see Preston-Blier 1995, pp.38–41). In Haiti, out of this tradition there evolved the Afro-American religion of Vodou (or “Vaudou”); the term “’Voodoo” (as propa- gated as anegativestereotypeinthe film industry;see Sulikowksi 1996) is frequentlyused for abody of superstitiousbeliefs.Asarule,scholars of Haitian Vodou therefore do not use this term, as,e.g.Desmangles2001, p. 361, who distinguishesbetween “Voodoo” (negativestereotype) and “Vodou”(the actual religion practisedinHaiti). Anderson (in his entries on Hoodoo and Voodoo in Pinn 2009), distinguishes betweenthe religious systems of Haitian Vodun and Mississippi Valley Voodoo(Anderson 2009b,p.427), and between“Voodoo” as religion and “Hoodoo”assupernaturalism(related to conjure and magic;Anderson 2009a, p. 197). 12 Hurston1931, p. 318:“[…] the Negroes fleeing Hayti and Santo Domingo brought to New Orleans and Louisiana, African rituals long sincelost to their continental brothers”. At least it was not the blacks that fled the Island of Saint Domingue, it was rather their white (French) masters who brought them along as theirslaves. 13 Long2007, pp.10–12. 14 “The arrival of the immigrants from Saint Domingue,sosimilar in culture to the native New Orleanians,lifted Creole spirits and added reinforcements to the face of Anglo-American aggressiveness” (Long 2007, p. 29). 15 Asynopsis is given by Long 2007, pp.115–116;see also Anderson 2009b,pp. 433 f. 16 There is muchofmyth and legend surroundingthat historicalfigure.Long 2007 is a thoroughly researched book doing away with most of the myths,e.g.that the “second” Marie Laveau(if she existed), who allegedlyhad secretly replaced the first when the latter grew old was adaughterorgranddaughter of the first (ibid.,pp. 190–205). 17 On my use of the term “cult” see footnote 7above. 18 For“mojo”, see footnote 2above.On“Hoodoo” see footnote 11.
134
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions traditions19 (f.e., to whichextent African-Americanmusic has its roots in West African music or is an adaptation of Europeanmusic),20 there are special forms of religious expression found in African-American Christianity that can be labelled as “African”: Thestyle of singing (call and response), dancing, clapping of hands, the style of preaching and ecstatic experiences of the spirit. Here we can find a form of Christianity using African ways of religious experience,whilst Afro- American religions in Brazil or Cuba (CandomblØ,Santería) are transformations of African cults that make use of Christianiconography,spiritist practices and the like.Ecstatic phenomena like trance in African-American Christianity are in- terpreted as experienceofthe Holy Ghost, whilst in Santería, CandomblØ and Haitian Vaudou media are possessed by distinctivedeities,like Yemayµ,Shango, Ogun and others.
2. Go down Moses
Inow turn to asketch of the development of “Slave Religion” in the USA. Although the AnglicanChurch had been interested in convertingthe slaves to Christianity, in colonialtimes,slave owners were reluctant to havingtheir slaves baptized, mostly for the fear of emancipation as aconsequence of being Chris- tian.21 Anglican preachers therefore tried to show that thereisnocontradiction to the bible in having fellow Christiansenslaved.22 In contradistinction to the Catholic practice, Anglicanclergyfurthermore relied on catechizingbefore baptism, aiming at converting the African-Americans by instructingthem in the Christian faith.23 They were less successful than those revivalist denominations that entered the scene in the 18th century,like Baptists and Methodists,who stressedthe conversion experience.24 Theroot of black mainstream churches in the USA lies in Evangelicalism25 and this way Evangelicalism seems also to have been influenced by African-Ameri-
19 Thedebate centred on Melville Herskovits “The Myth of the Negro Past”(1941). It is described and discussed, e. g. in Raboteau 1978, pp.48–55. 20 Foranoverview on positionsheld in this discussion see Cone1991, pp.9–12. 21 Raboteau 1994, p. 2; 1978, pp.97–103. 22 Raboteau 1994, p. 3; 1978, pp.103;122–124. 23 Raboteau 1978, p. 115. 24 Raboteau 1994, p. 4; 1978, pp.132–134. Thefirst to have stated this seems to have been Robert E. Park: “It was not, however, until the coming of the new,free and evan- gelistic types of Christianity,the Baptists and the Methodists,that the masses of the black people,that is,the plantation Negroes,foundaform of Christianity thatthey could make their own” (Park 1919, p. 119;see also Frazier 1940, p. 31). 25 “Soon after the revivals began in the southern colonies,powerful blackpreachers […] began to spreadevangelical Christianity to fellow African Americans […].”(Kidd 2007, p. 214;see also MacRobert 1997, pp.300 f.).
135
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl cans.Different missionary strategies26 are not the only factor that has played arole in different developments of Afro-American religions in Latin America and North America:27 Amuch smaller numberofslaves had been brought to the North American colonies than to those in Latin America. Thenumber of slaves owned by North American farmerswas also smaller than the number of slaves on plantations in Latin America. This circumstancemight have had an effect on the processofacculturation. There was abalance of female and male slaves that differedfrom the situationinLatin America, where the numberofmale slaves was higher.InNorth America, most slaves were born on the continent as the offspring of formerly enslavedAfricans,whilst in the Caribbean and in Brazil there was a steady supply of new slavestaken from Africa replacing those who had died. This way,the traditions of thosepeoples whose members had been enslaved at the end of the transatlantic slave-trade have had agreater impact on the Afro-American traditions in Latin America, and there was asteadyinflux of people who had a clear memory of their African homeland, culture and religion. In North America, the picture of the African homeland grew fainter with every new generation born on the continent. No sooner than at the beginning of the 19th century black slaves in antebellum south had significant religious institutions of their own (African churches).28 They eitherattended church together with their white masters or under white super- vision.29 Nevertheless they had their own religious practices,often clandestinely conducted at night time–their form of “invisible religion”.30 Thesinging of the so-
26 As Raboteau pointsout, “American Evangelical Protestantism […] was not as conductive to syncretism with African theologyand ritual” [as Catholicism;author] (Raboteau 1978, p. 88). It has to be noted,that in recent research on Afro-American religionsthe term “syncretism”has been dismissed as an apt descriptionofthe processin question; see,e.g., Brandon 1997, pp.157–185, who does adeconstruction of the term, rendering it as a“black-box-concept” (p.181), which has no explanatory value. 27 Forthe demographic factorsrendered here,see Raboteau 1978, pp.89–92. 28 Thefirst African American Baptist Congregation was founded in in 1760 in Vir- ginia according to Pinn 2009c, p. 616, whilst Raboteau (1978, p. 139) and Baer /Singer 2002, p. 15 (who quote Raboteau) maintain that the Silver Bluff Church (founded be- tween 1773 and 1775) “was the earliest black Baptist church in North America”. Ne- vertheless,there have been black Baptist congregations (often suppressed) among blacks before the first white Baptist congregations sprung up (Raboteau1978, 137). Thefirst African Methodist Churchesthat cameinto existenceatthe end of the 18th centurywere restricted to the North (Baer /Singer 2002, p. 17). 29 An overview is given by Baer /Singer 2001, pp.10–14. On the one hand, slave owners were reluctant to having their slavesbaptized (see Raboteau1978, p. 106)or attending church together with them (ibid.,pp. 102 f.). On the other hand, blacks were sometimes ridiculed by their fellow slaves,when having converted (Raboteau 1978, p. 121). 30 Adetailed description of these practices is given by Raboteau 1978, pp.212–288.
136
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions called spirituals was central among these distinctive practices of African-Amer- ican Christians in the antebellum south. Initially,spirituals have been sung out collectively in the course of aring-dance that has been called “the shout”.This means,that they have not only been sung, but acted out. In the words of Albert J. Raboteau:
Theshoutwould start with aleader calling out averse of aspiritual whilethe shouters responded by walking aroundinacircle.When the singers who stood outside the ring took up the chorus,the shout proper would begin with the ring band shuffling rapidly to the beat announced by the hand-clappingand foot-tapping of the chorusofsingers who were said then to be “basing” the shouters.31
Thelyricsdrew from the bible and the protestant hymnbook, and so they were mostly made up of biblical imagery and stories.Inthe course of the “shout” –that could last for hours –communicationorexchange took place between the in- dividual sexperience that would be coded by the special meaning the words of the spiritual had for his or her situation,and the community. 32 So,the biblicalstories and images could be used by the individual to reflect his or her situation.33 That way,many layers of meaning would be developed, and biblical places and figures could be used to reflect the situation of the slaves and to express their hopes. Among these stories, the mostimportant was the story of Exodus.34 As one white army chaplain has noted:
There is no part of the Bible with which they are so familiar as the story of the deliverance of Israel. Moses is their “ideal” of all that is high, and noble,and perfect, in man.Ithink they have been accustomed to regard Christnot so much in the light of a spiritual deliverer, as that of asecond Moses whowould eventually lead them out of their prison- house of bondage.35
This reverses the use of the story by European settlersinNorth America, who have thought of their journeyfrom Europe to the New World as anew Exodus
31 Raboteau 1978, p. 245. 32 Furthermore,asLawrence Levine has remarked, “the slavescreated anew world” (quotedbyChireau 2000, p. 19) and, as Chireau (ibid.) has put it, in “thesemoments of transcendence,the boundaries between sacredand profane were effaced,asblack wor- shippers dramatized pivotal events in earlyJewish history” (maybe thosepivotal events would better be rendered as belonging to “myth” than “history”). According to Levine 1997, pp.74–75, “The slave s shout […]often became amedium through which the ecstatic dancerswere transformed into actualparticipantsinhistoric actions […]”. 33 Raboteau 1978, pp.246 f. 34 See,e.g.Fulop 1997, p. 230:“Of particular importance in African-American thoughtisthe biblical story of the Exodus and the image of Canaan”. 35 Raboteau 1978, pp.311 f.;1994, p. 13.
137
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl from Egypt to the Promised Land.For their African slaves,Americameant Egypt, where they were held in bondageunder aNew Pharaoh.36 Thestory of Exodus served as avision of abetterfuture for the slaves on the one hand.37 On the other hand it symbolized the common history of the African-Americans and fostered their feeling of being one people.AsAlbert J. Raboteauhas remarked, this metaphoricaluse of the biblicalstory became aliteralrealitywhen it was acted out duringthe ring dance:“In the ecstasy of worship,time and distance collapsed, and the slaves literally became the children of Israel […] travelled […] throughthe Red Sea […] saw Pharaohs army get drowned ,[…] crossedJordanunder Joshua and marched […] around the walls of Jericho.”38 This way,the religious metaphors we know from the so called Spirituals had a very concrete place in the lives of the African-Americanpopulation. Crossing the river Jordan was not only understood symbolically or as are-enactment of an old story,but also literally as crossing the border to the North and to emancipation.39 Theland of “Canaan” was aschibboleth for the North or Canada. Thereadingof the story by the African-Americans also inverted the use of the biblical narrative by the white slave-holders.One specialargumentfor the inferiority of peopleof black colour and the right to hold them in slavery was the biblical story of the curse of Ham sson Canaan,asAfricans of dark skin were thoughttobethe offspring of Ham.40 Somepreachers of black millennialism, as it flourished as areaction to the so called “Nadir”41,reinterpreted this myth in that way,that Asia was given to the descendants of Shem, Africa to the descendants of Ham and Europe to the sons of Japheth,looking at America as the nation where those race boundaries would be overcome.42 Others,aptly called Millennial Ethiopianists, looked for Africa as the continent of aBlack Millennium.43 As we have already seen, black slavesused to identify with Old Israel in amore or less metaphoricalway.Instill another reading of the biblicalstory,some claimed, that since Hamwas black, it followed that most
36 Raboteau,1994, p. 9; 1997, p. 101. 37 For“God as Liberator” in the lyrics of thespirituals, seeCone 1991, pp.32–43. At the beginning of this chapter, he sumsitupasfollows:“Thedivine liberation of the oppressed from slavery is the central theological concept in the black spirituals”(p. 32). 38 Raboteau 1994, pp.13f. 39 Ibid., p. 14. 40 Gen 9,18–29;informer times,the Afro-Asiaticlanguages were classified as Semito-Hamitic. 41 Aterm in use for the last 25 years of the 19th century in African-Americanhistory,a period of an attitude of whites against blackslooking at them as an inferior race,of disenfranchisement and lynching (see Fulop1997, p. 230). 42 Fulop 1997, pp.232–234. 43 Ibid.,p.231, characterises Millennial Ethiopianismasadoctrine that “posits apan- Africanmillennium, afuture golden age continuouswith aglorious African past ac- companied by God sjudgement of white society and Western civilization”.
138
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions people of the Ancient Near Eastwere black and therefore black people played a significant role in history.
3. “Jesus Christ was black”44
We can take this adaptation of biblical genealogies as aforerunner of one peculiar message some African-Americanpreachers spread at the beginningofthe 20th century: That the African-Americans were descendants of the Israelites.45 At the time this doctrine arose,amigration of African-Americans from the ruralsouth to the urban north took place,46 in the context of which non-Christian black na- tionalist religious movements came into being that have been classified by Baer and Singer as “messianic-nationalist sects”47 using asociological typologyloosely oriented at the classic church-sect paradigm as developedbyRoy Wallis.48 These typologies use two criteria that can have two biases (yes/no) and therefore can be combinedinfour ways. Thecriteria used by Baer and Singer are modelled afterthe basicidea to distinguishthe interaction of the religious groups in question withthe largersociety. 49 Baerand Singer do not engage in the dis- cussion of how to delineate betweenchurch and sect, denomination and cult in the
44 KRS-One (Lawrence Parker);from “The Eye Opener” the third track on the 1991 album “Live Hardcore Worldwide” by the Hip-Hop-Group Boogie Down Productions. In 2009, KRS-One publisheda600 pages book, called “The Gospel of Hip-Hop:The First Instrument”. On his homepage“TheTemple of Hip-Hop” he writes about that book: “The Gospel of Hip Hop is auniquely writteninstrumentdesigned to guide anew generation of Hiphoppasspiritually and establish thegroundwork foranew Hip Hop nation. More of areference and teaching aide,The Gospel of Hip Hop lays out apractical approach to the spiritual living of HipHop.” (http://www.krsone.biz/temple_bio.html last accessedonJanuary 29, 2016). 45 This background is consensually acknowledged among the authors writing on Black Hebrews;see,e.g.Chireau 2000, pp.17–20;Fernheimer 2009, p. 170;Brotz 1970, pp.6f. 46 Baer /Singer 2002, p. 114;they remark, that black nationalism “did not appear sui generis with the migration” and shortly point to the themesofliberation in African- American Christianity and its interpretation of the myth of Exodus outlined above. Fauset 2001, pp.7f.,also names the migrationtothe northasarelevant factor in the emergence of BlackNationalist religious groups. 47 Themain characteristics of these “sects” are “belief in aglorious black past” that has been lost, “opposition and criticism to American culture and whites”, “anticipation of divine retribution against the white oppressor”, “assertion of blacksovereignty”, and “chiliastic and messianicexpectations of anew golden age for black people” (Baer / Singer 2002, p. 56). 48 Wallis,1976, pp.12f. 49 Baer /Singer 2002, pp.52–54, diagram on p. 55.
139
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl descriptive use sociologists of religion make of those terms.50 In their opinion, all African-Americanreligious organisations are in tension with the larger society and thereforecan aptly be calledsects.51 They distinguishbetween apositive and a negative stance towards society,positive meaningabasic agreement with the principles the societyrests upon, negative being characterized by rejecting the prevalent values or being repulsed by them.Furthermore,they distinguish be- tween an activeand apassive mode of social action.Inthis typology,messianic- nationalist sects are characterized by arejection of the dominant society and take social actions in order to pursue theirgoal of overthrowingthe actual order of things.52 Themain religious movements grouped here fall into two categories: Black Judaism and Black Muslims.53 Iwill first give an overviewonBlack Hebrew groups here and then turn to a discussion of the Nation of Islam in part 4ofthis essay,inorder to point out similarities and differencesintheir respective constructions of “race”. As arule, Black Hebrewsare (or have been) smaller groups than Black Muslim organisa- tions.The term is used for abroad spectrum of religious organisations and in- dividuals,ranging from those who are accepted by official Judaism, either because of stemming from aJewish motherorbecauseofhaving converted according to halachic rules to those who claim that African-Americans are the offspring of the ancient Israelites.54 Some of the latter groups are rather syncretistic,inmixing Judaic and Christian elements in their worship.They consequently hold that Jesus Christ was black.55 All of them claim that African-Americans are the offspring of Jews,either the lost tribes or the tribe of Judah. Some of them –notably Rabbi Wentworth A. Matthewofthe Commandment Keepers of Harlem –tracedtheir origin to Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jews.56 This genealogyhas its rootsinthe idea
50 At least in the German speaking world, in Religious Studiesthe descriptive use of the category “sect” has been dismissed; see Remus 2005. 51 Baer /Singer 2002, p. 54. 52 “Centraltothe vitalizing core of these groups is afundamental critique of the place and treatment of people of Africanheritage in American society.Implied in this critique and often expressed outrightisarejectionofthe accommodationist features found in other African American religious organisations” (Baer /Singer 2002, p. 113). 53 Baer /Singer 2002, p. 113;against the idea, that with respect to tensionsbetween Judaism and the Muslim world,“lumping black Muslims and black Jews into acommon pool might appear reckless”, they argue,thatboth types of messianic-nationalistsects share acommon“heritage andabasic belief structure,articulated through […] differing religious symbol systems” (ibid.). 54 Fernheimer 2009, p. 170. 55 As the Church of the Living God of ProphetCherry does:Fauset 2001, p. 34;Pinn 2009a, pp.167 f. 56 Brotz 1970, p. 15;Brotz 1970, pp.19–22 reprints the construction of the origin of races based on biblical genealogy from “a small handbook for Members” by Rabbi
140
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions that Ethiopia was the homeland of African-Americans.57 Out of this idea, at- tempts of repatriation resulted, as propagated by Marcus Garvey sUniversal Negro Improvement Association,best known for its influence on the Rastafari movement.58 According to Singer and Baer,the so called Ethiopian affair of 1920 was the first occasion on whichthe existence “of amilitant, messianic-nationalist brand of black Judaism”59 came to be noted by the wider public.Duringaparade organised by an offspringofUNIA,two American flags were burnedwhich led to
Wentworth,titled “The Anthropology of the Ethiopian Hebrews and their Relationship to the Fairer Jews”. 57 As Barrett 1997, p. 75 has put it, Africa as ageographical entity“was […] obli- terated”from the memory of the African-Americans by the time Black Churches came into existence in the USA:“Their only visionofahomeland was the biblical Ethiopia”. So Ethiopia became aschibboleth for the Africanhomeland,and the so-called “Ethio- pianism” cameinto being.The feelingofbeing “one people”that grew out of ashared experience of the African-Americans (who were indeed of mixed Africandescent) had as its counterpart the “white” other (who indeed represented agroupofmixedEuropean descent). On the one hand, this led to the emergence of separate“black” institutions. Seen from the “other sside”, white ministers at the beginningofthe 19th century started to state demarcations drawn by God between blacks and whites (see Smith1998, p. 535). In this vein,the first society that was founded in the USA with the aim of repatriation of freed Afro-Americans was the “American Colonization Society“(ASC,founded in 1816; Smith 1998, pp.535 f.). This anti-integrationist stance was later sharedbyblack propo- nents of emigrationalism in the service of ASC,like Edward Wylmot Blyden, who,e.g., asked the ASC in 1870toonly send “pure Negroes” to West Africa (Curtis2002, p. 34). Black emigrationist initiatives of the 20th century have emerged in the time of colonialism. With the exception of Liberia(which was not acolony,but underUScontrol), Ethiopia was the only African country at the turn of the centuries not under European colonial rule.Together with its biblical status,this made it the perfect goal for repatriationists holding the idea that African-Americans would “return to Africatoredeem the con- tinent from colonialism”(Smith 1998, p. 537). On thereligious side,“Ethiopia” became the dwellingplace of God Almighty,asGarvey remarked: “WeNegroes believe in the God of Ethiopia, the everlasting God –God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the one God of all ages.That is the God in whom we believe,but we shall worship him through the spectacles of Ethiopia” (quoted in Barrett 1997, p. 77). 58 Arnold Josiah Ford, who was amain influence on Matthew, was aleading member of the UNIA and its musical director. Having hoped that Judaism becamethe religion of the UNIA,hewas somewhat disappointed, when the African Orthodox Church of Bishop McGuire becamethe main religiousinfluence in Garvey sorganisation. He emigrated to Ethiopia in 1930, where he died in 1934 withoutfulfilling his vision of building aBlack Jewish colony (Vincent2006, pp.116 f.;184;see also Chireau 2000, p. 26). On Garveyism and Rastafari see Barrett1997, pp.76–84;Chevannes 1998, pp.10f.; Vincent 2006, pp.189 f. 59 Baer /Singer 2002, p. 115.
141
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl ashooting in which two men were killed. GroverCleveland Redding,who was convicted for murder, claimed to be of Abyssinian royal ancestry. Black Hebrews either look at Ashkenazim and Sephardim as resulting from racial mixture or as impostors.Frank S. Cherry,the founderofthe Church of the Living God, Pillar of Truth for all Nations,held the latteridea.60 Aformer railroad worker, he began to preach in the early 1880ies that black Americans were the true Jews.61 He moved from Chattanooga, TennesseetoPhiladelphia,where one small community of his church is still in existence.62 Accordingtohim, people of white skin are the offspring of the servantofthe prophet Elisha, Gehazi,63 who was punished with leprosy for his misbehaviour,according to 2Kings,5:20–27, the most important verse being 27 whenElisha says to Gehazi:“Naaman sleprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.”Itcontinues:“Then Gehazi went from Elisha spresence and his skin was leprous –ithad become as white as snow.” Apparently,this is acounter-storytothe idea held by white slaveholders that black Africans were the offspring of Noah sgrandson Canaan. In both stories not only aperson, but also his descendants are cursed. Because of awrong etymology of the name “Ham”the curse of Noah became connected to black skin,although in Genesis9skin colour is not mentioned. Themyth solely explainsthe sub- ordination of the Canaanites to the Israelites.According to Cherry suse of the story from 2Kings,the original Israelites were black, and Caucasian Jews are a fraud.64 Another BlackHebrew church founded at the end of the 19th century is The Church of God and Saints of Christ. William Sanders Crowdy (1847–1908), afreed slave,began to preach because of visions and auditions he received, in whichGod commanded him to do so.65 According to him,African-Americans were members
60 On Cherry –onwhose early life no ascertained information doesexist –see Fauset 2001, pp.32f.; Pinn 2009a, p. 167;Baer /Singer 2002, pp.115 f.;other groups that hold this view are TheNubian Islaamic [sic!]Hebrews (see O Connor 2000, pp.122 f.)and the Nation of Yahweh (see footnote69). 61 According to Singer 2000, p. 28, Cherry founded his church in 1886;Pinn 2009a, p. 167, writes that Cherry organized the Church of the Living God in 1866. Given that Cherry died in 1965, this is ratherunlikely;itseems to be atypo. 62 According to my research on the internet, there is only this one community left. Another church of asimilar name,aPentecostal denomination called “House of God, which is the Church of the LivingGod, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc.”was founded in 1903 by Mother Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate (1871–1930). On Tate,“the first woman in the United States to head apredominantly blackdenomination as chiefoverseer and bishop”(Hardy 2007, p. 747), see Hardy 2007, pp.747–750. 63 Baer /Singer 2002, p. 116. 64 Fauset 2001, pp.34f. 65 On Crowdy,see Wynia 1998, pp.19–28;Singer2000, pp.58–60;Baer /Singer 2002, p. 166;Pinn 2009b,pp. 152–154.
142
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions of the lost tribes,Jews were originallyofblack skin and the “caucasian”Jews were an offspring of intermarriage between Jews and “Caucasians”.66 After his death, the church developed into asyncretistic church merging elements takenfrom Judaism, Christianity and Free-Masonry.67 Accordingtoits homepage,the church actually has 37 “tabernacles” in 4districts in the USA, 1inKingston, Jamaica, and severaltabernacles in 7districts on the southern part of the African continent, mostly in South Africa, but also in Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.68 There are also Black Hebrew movements that propagate repatriation of Black Jews in Israel, like the Nation of Yahweh,69 that could not reach thisgoal, in contradistinction to the movement founded by Ben Carter (1939–2014) who took the name Ben Ammi Ben Israel whenjoining aChicago basedBlack Hebrew group.70 He claimed to have had avision in which the Archangel Gabriel told him, that he was the chosen leader “to lead the true African Israelites back to the promised land”. In 1966 he managed to emigrate with 300 of his followers to Liberia, later to Israel, where the community of approx. 1500 members lives in a settlement in the town of Dimona (Negev).71 On December 27, 2014, Ben Ammi died.72 He had been referredtoas“abba” by the members of the group, the fate of which seemstobeuncertain after the death of its charismatic leader.The com- munity has avegan diet, called “Edemic” (from “the gardenofEden”), observes Sabbath from Friday to Saturday and stickstobiblicalrulesonmenstruation (niddah). Somemen practice polygamy,due to their interpretation of biblical texts.73 Initially,Ben Ammi had denied the legitimacy of white-skinned Jews,inan interview in 1996 he said that his experienceinIsrael had changed theseviewsand
66 Singer 2002, p. 59. 67 Singer /Baer 2000, p. 116. 68 http://cogasoc.org/wordpress/locations last accessed on January 29, 2016. 69 This movement was founded by Hulen Mitchell Jr. (1935–2007), the first of 15 childrenofaPentecostal preacher, who came to be convinced of his Godly nature at a young age and later changed his name to Yahweh ben Yahweh (“Lord Son of the Lord”). Having successfully established his churchthat grew to be the biggest among Black Hebrew denominations,the further development of the movement was somehow ob- structed, when Ben Yahweh was charged for conspiracy on the murderof12whites in 1990. He was released from prison in 2001. His faithful followers interpreted his im- prisonment as aparallel to the crucifixion of the Christ (see:http://www.yahwehbe nyahweh.com/ last accessed on January 30, 2016). On Hullen and his movement, see Easterling 2009, p. 113. 70 On Ben Ammi see Easterling 2009a, p. 112;Michaeli 2000. 71 Adetailed description of this migration is given by Singer 2000, pp.60–69;see also Michaeli 2000, pp.73–75 and Easterling, 2009a, p. 112. 72 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/world/middleeast/ben-ammi-ben-israel-leader- of-black-americans-who-migrated-to-israel-dies-at-75.html?_r=0lastaccessedonJanuary 30,2016. 73 Michaeli 2000, pp.75f.
143
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl he now would include someJews among the chosen people.74 This way,heseems to have abandonedthe idea that some of the more radical Black Hebrews hold. Whilstmost think that EuropeanJews are not the original Jews (that stem from Ethiopia), but converts,the more radical version sees European Jews as intruders on the original covenant,and white people as evil and led by Satan.75 This idea stems from the convictionthat the white race as such is evil and under Satan s leadership.
4. Fear of Black Planet76
Theidea that the white race is evil per se has also –and notoriously –been propagated by the Nation of Islam, which Iuse here as an example for nationalist Black Muslim movements.Iwill give ashort overviewofthe group shistory and core teachings in order to comparethe race construction and the reading of the biblicalnarrative of this group with the beliefs held by those discussed above.NOI can trace its roots back to the Moorish Science Temple founded by Nobel Drew Ali(TimothyDrew,1886–1929)77 in 191378 in Newark, New Jersey.79 Legend has it
74 Michaeli 2000, p. 81;inasimilar way,Elijah Mohammedchanged his viewsthat Jews as asubset of Whites are devils in “How to eat to Live” to amorefriendly attitude against orthodox Jews (Deutsch 2000;pp. 94 f.;97f.). 75 Easterling 2009a, p. 114. 76 “Fear of aBlackPlanet” is the 3rd studio album by hip-hopgroup Public Enemy, who have praisedNation of Islam leaderLouis Farrakhan on the track “Bring the Noise” from their second album “It Takes aNationofMillionstoHold Us Back” (“Farrakhanisa prophet andIthink you ought to listento. What he can say to you. What you oughttodo”) and have been acknowledgedbyhim when inductedtothe “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Entertainment_News_5/article_9921. shtml, last accessed April 23, 2016. 77 On Drew and the Moorish Science Temple see Curtis 2002, pp.45–62;Easterling 2009b;Baer /Singer 2002, pp.121–123;Curtis 2014, pp.147 f.;Lincoln 1961, pp.50–55; Fauset 2002, pp.41–51. 78 Curtis 2002, p. 47, remarksonthe validity of this date:“Every scholarly source of which Iamaware liststhe date of the founding of the MSTas 1913, though none of these sourcesproduces any evidence for this date except references to other secondary sources or oralhistory interviews with movement members”. 79 Someother Black Muslim institutions have alsobeen founded in the firstdecades of the 20th century in the USA, by the Ahmadiyya Sufi order (that was also of great influence on the spread of Islam in West Africa at this time;see Stewart 1986, pp.216– 217) and Sunni traditions in which African missionarieswere important (Curtis 2014, pp.146–147). TheAhmadiyyamovement stems from Punjab,India, and initially claimed that “Ghulam Ahmad was both the messiah of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition and the Islamic Mahdi” (Curtis,2006, pp.46–47). Themovement split, and the one
144
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions that the man travelled extensively in North Africa and the Near East, wherehe received training by prophets and sages and was introduced to Islam. He also claimedtohavereceived the name“NobleDrew Ali” duringthat time.80 His teachings are ablend of elements taken from Islam, Christianity,Freemasonry, Theosophy and Pan-Africanism.Among his scriptures is the Holy Koran, abook composedmainly of passages takenfrom atheosophical text (“The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ”) and aRosicrucian text (“Unto Thee IGrant” or “The Infinite Wisdom”).81 This way,his version of the Koran has almost nothing to do with the scripture revealed to Mohammad, but is asample of esoteric texts.From his point of view,the Qur an was Mohammad stranslation of Old Egyptian Mysteries,inwhich Ali claimedtohave been initiated.For him, Al-Islam is only a partial understandingofthe original religion and Allah, whilst the Egyptian mysteries Ali claimed access to,are the oldest form of mankind sreligionand the basis of all religions of the world. People of dark complexion he calledMoors,and he taught that they have originated from the ancient peoples mentioned in the Bible.82 South-East and East Asianpeoples as well as the Natives of the Americas he thought to be the descendants from the lineage of Hagar, mentioned in the Bible as Moabites,Canaanites,Hittites,Cushites and Hamites.Because of this connection to peoples mentioned in the Biblical Scriptures,these Asiatic peoples are also called Moorish by Ali.83 After the death of Nobel Drew Ali, one of his followers,Wallace D. Fard, a rather mysterious figure,claimed to be areincarnation of Ali, which he also understood as aproclamationofhis divinity.Working as apeddler in Detroit, he preached that the true religion was not Christianity but Islam and held some meetings,inwhich he used both the Qur an and the Bible.Hetaught the white people were “blue eyed devils”.84 After Fard sdisappearance in 1934, Elijah Poole,who took the name “Elijah Muhammad” became the leader of the NOI that Fard had founded.Heput the ideas of black supremacy and how the white man had usurped black dominion already preached by his predecessors into the framework of dispensationalism, an idea prominent amongevangelical Chris- tians.85 According to this doctrine,history is divided into several “dispensations”, section that held that Ahmad was but arenewer of religion and not aprophet was of influence on the NOI (Curtis 2006, p. 47). 80 Curtis 2002, p. 47. 81 As Curtis 2002, pp.58–60 has shown. 82 Ibid., p. 54;Berg 2005, pp.689 f. 83 These genealogies that rely on the Hamitic myth (Berg 2005, p. 690) are included in the last sections of TheHoly Koran, Chapter XLVtoXLVII;pp. 56–59;see also Curtis 2002, p. 54. 84 On Fard see Lincoln 1961, pp.10–14;Baer /Singer 2002, pp.123 f.;Mamiya 2009b, pp.239 f. 85 On DispensationalisminBlack Christianity as an influence on Elijah Mohammed,
145
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl historical periods in whichGod makes different covenants with mankind. The teaching of Elijah Muhammad has at its core,that earth was inhabited from very ancient times (66 trillion years) on by the black tribe of Shabazz and ruledby24 scientists.6000 years ago,amad scientist by the name of Yakub created the white race,adevilish race.All the prophets God sent to the white race (among them Jesus and Mohammad, both of them black-skinned) could not succeed in con- verting them to the true religion of Islam. With the enslavement of African people by the white race,the millenniuminwhich we nowlive began, and the time was ripe for the judgement of God and the retribution of the evil deeds of the white race.This age of retribution has begun with the appearance of Wallace D. Fard.86 Again,this myth makes reference to the biblical (hi)story:
These events and prophecies are recorded in the Bible according to Elijah Muhammad. Forinstance,the storyofAdam and Eve in Genesis is the story of the creationofthe white race,and the apocalypse in the Book of Revelation is the prophecy written by Yakub against the white race he created.87
In 1948, when serving asentence in prison, Malcolm Littlewas introduced to the teachings of the NOI.AsLawrence Mamiyahas put it,88 the doctrine of the white man beingthe devil along with the myth of Yakub servedasakind of theodicy and rationalization for Malcolm like for many other African-Americans.Exactly,it explained “[…] all of the pain and suffering inflicted upon black people in America. It all began to make sense:the chaos of the world behind prison bars becameacosmos, an ordered reality”89.After overcoming his drug-addictionand other personal problems,Malcolm became probably the most prominent figure in the history of NOI.Hewas named Malcom X, after the practice introducedby Elijah Muhammad of substituting the slave name of members of NOIbyanX. TheXmeant “undetermined”, an “unknown quantity” or ex-slave,ex-drinker, ex-Christian and the like.90 Afteraperiod of faithfulness,anew name was given symbolising the change that had taken place within the person. Malcolm Little became “MulikShabazz”. Thedualistic world-view regarding race relationships made Malcolm Xtoanoutspoken critic of the Civil Rights Movement led by MartinLuther King,who was the son of aBaptist minister,just like Malcom. The see Curtis 2002, pp.64–67. Dispensationalism is also featured in the teachings of F.S. Cherry,who held that God created the earth 6000 years ago and that every two thousand years there was adispensation. He expected the return of Jesus and the millenniumatthe end of the 20th century (Fauset 2001, p. 35). 86 Forthis “myth of Yakub” see Curtis 2002, pp.74–76;Berg 2005, p. 692. 87 Berg 2005, pp.692 f. 88 Mamiya 2009b,pp. 242 f. 89 Ibid., p. 242. 90 Ibid., p. 243.
146
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions latter was strivingfor BlackNationalism in aseparatist framework, whilstKing was opting for racial equality in an integrationist one.91 As NOIcame under permanent critique by Islamic organisations for the form of Islam that it practiced, whichhad virtually nothingtodowith Sunni or Shia Islam, ElijahMuhammad was criticised for his life style,92 and the separatist orientation of Muhammad led to akind of collaboration with whiteracist groups,93 Malcolm, who first had defendedElijah Muhammad, began to study Sunni Islam,94 converted, and left the NOI.95 He was murdered in 1965.96 Afterthe death of ElijahMuhammad, who had stayed with his original teachings,obviously not able to adopt amore orthodox form of Al-Islam, his son Wallace Delaney Mu- hammad (as afamily member) becamehis successor and not the prominent minister Louis Farrakhan. This led to aschism along the line that can be drawn between the understandingofIslam in classical NOI teaching and orthodox Sunni Islam. WallaceMuhammad reformedthe group according to standards of or- thodoxSunni Islam. Theorganisation under the leadership of ImamMuhammad had several names,among them the American Muslim Nation and the American Society of Muslims.97 Since 1977, the original NOIisled by Louis Farrakhan, who is often criticisedfor Antisemitism, but on the other hand has proven to be a charismatic leader and an organizer of nation-wide events for the African- American community,inwhich far more thanthe members of NOI have been involved. NOI, and some of its offshoots, namely the Five Percent Nation, have had asignificant influence on the hip-hop-scene.98
91 On the relationship of King and Malcolm Xsee Carson 2005. 92 On this critique,see Curtis 2002, pp.79–83. 93 “Muhammad had sent Malcolm to Atlanta to meet with Ku Klux Klan officials to obtain the white supremacist group ssupport for the Nation splan to createaseparate black state (15). This meeting,which remained awell-keptsecretuntil Malcolm sbreak with the Nation,was one of the factors that caused Malcolm tobecome increasingly sceptical of Muhammad smotives and integrity even before he learned of his mentor s infidelities” (Carson 2005, p. 24). 94 Under the guidance of an Egyptian Muslim scholar by the name of Mahmoud Youssef Shawarbi (Curtis2002, pp.91–93). 95 Curtis 2002, pp.88–96. 96 So the question remains unanswered,whether the adoptionofSunni Islam would have led Malcolm to amore “integrationist”and less “nationalist” view of racial rela- tions. 97 On Wallace D. Muhammad and his re-orientationofhis father sreligiousorgan- isation see Curtis 2002, pp.107–127 and Mamiya2009a. 98 An analysisofthe presence of separatist or black supremacy discourse in popular African-American culture is outside the scope of this short overview.Ihave given but a few hints.
147
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl
5. Conclusion
Istarted this overview with ashortcomparison between the religious and cultural situation of Afro-AmericansinLatin and North America. Thecircumstances of the slave trade have left those living under catholic rule with amoreclear idea of their African origins,and therefore of their identity.Itwould be another task to investigate,how Afro-American religions in these countries have contributedto constructingethnic identities among the slaves in correlation to the white “other”. Be that as it may,the North Americansituation differed, out of various reasons mentioned:The African homeland became afaintidea there.African religious elements were rather preserved on the formal side of religious practice than as a contentofit(e. g.,anidentifiable African Godhead). Being exposedtoChristian mission, biblical stories(in the framework of history of salvation) became ame- dium for reflecting the situationofthe slaves. Thebiblical stories of the en- slavement of the Israelites and the way they gainedfreedombythe mythical processcalled Exodus,led to an identification of christened slaveswith the Is- raelites,onametaphorical, but also on amore literal level. Searching for an identity as opposedtothe one ascribed to them by the slaveholders,African- Americans developed different strategies.Inthis paper,Ihave only looked at the strategies used by the messianic-nationalist “sects” in the typology of Baer / Singer.99 Within the drawn examplesofthe religious groups put into this category by Baer and Singer, we have taken alook at some Black Hebrew and Black Muslimorganisations.Black Hebrewsobviously turn the readingofthe Christian myth by their white ex-masters upside down, but they stay within the framework provided by Christianity.Black Muslims,whatever their correlation to orthodox Islam might be,have chosen not to accept the Christian myth.100 Interestingly,in both groups,wefind the practice of acquiring anew name.Inthe NOI of Elijah Mohammad, we find akind of rite of passage connected to this.The person is taken out from its old social definition (as anegro,aslave and so on), there is a liminal phase of beingundefined(symbolized by the “X”) and finally,anew identity (social definition) as akind of re-integration with anew role in the society is given to the “neophyte”.101 This has already been pre-modelledinthe teachings of Nobel DrewAli and Wallace D. Fard. Arenaming is also found among the leaders of the more radicalBlack Hebrews,asBen AmmiorYahweh Ben Yah- weh. This quest to recoveralost true identity can also be found in the case of
99 E.g.,Martin LutherKing sought adifferent (integrationist) strategy. 100 Includingthe strategy of Elijah Muhammadmentioned above to give it aplace within the timeframe of his own reconstruction of the history of mankind, as the period of the rule of the “white devils”,preceded and followed by atime of blacksupremacy. 101 This is the structure of rites de passage as pointed out by van Gennep.Onrites of passagesee,e.g., Barnard /Spencer 1996.
148
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions
Walter King,who renamed himself as Adefunmi.102 It is important to see,that the Englishnames substituted by Hebrew,“Moorish”, Arabic or Yorbµ names are the names of the slaveholders that were the masters of the progenitors of the renamed individuals.So, African-Americannationalist constructions of anew identity (involving genealogies that might seem strange at first view)respond to a need for anew identity.This need arises outofthe situationofthe African- American as awounded person, someone who is subjected to the dominion of the “Caucasians”, someonewhom human dignity is denied.The constructions of an ethnic identity discussed in this paper are constructions that deal with asituation of incongruence.Thereare many ways in which people can try to change such a situation, between accommodation and revolt.Gnosticism, e. g.,could be in- terpreted as aresponse to asituation of incongruence.Asituation of incongruence is characteristic of those groups that MaxWeber has called “negatively privi- leged”.103 Negatively privileged groups will have an inclination to adualistic world-view.Without discussingdifferent forms of dualism104 and abstaining from adiscussionofthe changing meanings the term ”fundamentalism” has taken on since its invention as aself-description of anti-modernist evangelical white Christians in the USA,105 Irefer to the characteristics of fundamentalismthat Droogers mentions.106 In some stagesofthe development of the religions men- tioned here we can detect what he calls astrong inclination to adualistic world view with aclearly defined enemy,assertive(or aggressive) strategies,the lea- dership of charismatic persons,astrict code of behaviour,aliteral understanding of sacred texts and asomehow“essentialist” understanding of religion. Some of the groups have softened this approachinthe course of their development, with the strikingexample of NOI, in which the adaptation that took place afterElijah Muhammad sdeath by his son WallaceMuhammad led to asplit with the group led by Louis Farrakhan staying with aliteral understanding of the “white devil” and with dualistic enemy-thinking. As we have seen in the case of Amos Ben Ammiand Elijah Mohammad in their changing attitude towards orthodox Jews, and as we have seen in the split of NOI sketchedabove,inthe interaction with the societyatlarge,there is always aroom to move between strict separatist (i.e. fundamentalist) and more integrationist strategies.
102 See footnote 9above. 103 And that will therefore produce areligion of “salvation”;see Weber 1980, p. 298, pp.300–302. 104 On different forms of“dualism” see Rudolph 1994, pp.68–69. 105 See,e.g., Harwazinski 2005. 106 Droogers 2008, p. 53.
149
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl
References
Ali, Noble Drew: The Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America (no place or year indicated). Anderson, Jeffrey Elton:“Hoodoo”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 197–200 (= Anderson 2009a). Anderson, Jeffrey Elton:“Voodoo”,in: Pinn2009,pp. 427–439 (= Anderson 2009b). Baer, Hans A. /Singer, Merrill: African-American Religions:Varieties of Protest and Accomodation. Knoxville 2002. Barnard, Alan/Spencer, Jonathan:“Rite of Passage”, in:id. (ed.): Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London/New York 2002, pp.489–490. Barrett, Leonard E.: The Rastafarians. Boston 1997. Berg, Herbert:“Mythmaking in the African-AmericanMuslim Context:The Moorish Science Temple,the Nation of Islam, and the American Society of Muslims”, in: Journal of the American Academy of Religion (73) 2005,pp. 685–703. Brandon, George: Santeríafrom Africa to the New World:The Dead Sell Memories. Bloomington /Indianapolis 1997. Brotz, HowardM.: The Black Jews of Harlem:Negro Nationalism and the Dilemmaof NegroLeadership. New York 21970. Brown, David H.: SanteríaEnthroned:Art, Ritual, and InnovationinanAfro-Cuban Religion. Chicago /London 2003. Carson, Clayborne:“TheUnfinished DialogueofMartinLuther King,Jr. and Malcolm X”, in: AH Magazine of History (19) 2005,pp. 22–26. Chevannes, Barry:“Introducing the Native Religions of Jamaica”, in:id. [ed.], Rastafari and Other African-Caribbean Worldviews. New Brunswick 21998. Chireau, Yvonne/Deutsch, Nathaniel (eds.): Black Zion:African-American Religious Encounters with Judaism. Oxford et al.,2000. Chireau, Yvonne:“Black Cultureand Black Zion:African-American Religious En- counters with Judaism, 1790–1930,anOverview”, in: Chireau/Deutsch 2000,pp. 15– 33. Clarke,Kamari Maxine:“Oyotunji African Village”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 290–302. Collins,Robert O. /Burns,JamesM:AHistory of Sub-SaharanAfrica. New York 22014. Cone,James H.: The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation. Maryknoll 1991. Curtis,Edward E.: The Call of Bilal:Islam in the African Diaspora. Chapel Hill 2014. Curtis,EdwardE.:Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960–1975. ChapelHill 2006. Curtis,Edward E.: Islam in BlackAmerica:Identity,Liberation, and Difference in Af- rican-American Islamic Thought. New York 2002. De la Torre,Miguel A.: Santería: The Beliefsand Rituals of aGrowing Religion in America. Grand Rapids 2004. Desmangles,Leslie G. :“Vodou”, in:Glazier, StephenD.(ed.): Encyclopaedia of African and African-American Religions. New York 2001, pp.361–364. Deutsch, Nathaniel:“TheProximate Other:The Nation of Islam and Judaism”, in: Chireau/Deutsch 2000,pp. 91–117. Droogers,AndrØ:“Syncretists,Fundamentalists and Scholars compared”, in:Adogame, Afe /Echtler, Magnus /Vierke,Ulf (eds.): Unpacking the New: Critical Perspectives on Syncretization in Africa and Beyond. Wien /Berlin 2008, pp.47–69.
150
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions
Easterling, Paul:“Black Hebrew Israelite Tradition”,in: Pinn 2009,pp. 111–115 (= Easterling2009a). Easterling, Paul:“Moorish Science Temple of America, Inc.”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 222–226 (= Easterling2009b). Fauset, Arthur Huff: Black Gods of the Metropolis:Negro ReligiousCults of the Urban North. Philadelphia 22001 (reprint of first editionof1944 with aforeword by Barbara Dianne Savage). Fernheimer, Janice W. :“Commandment Keepers of Harlem”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 169–174. Frazier, E. Franklin: The Negro Family in the United States. Chicago 21940. Fulop,Timothy E.:“ TheFuture Golden Day of theRace :Millenialism and Black Americans in the Nadir, 1877–1901”, in: Fulop/Raboteau1997,pp. 227–254. Fulop,Timothy E. /Raboteau, Albert J. (eds.): African-American Religion: Interpretive EssaysinHistory and Culture. New York /London 1997. Hardy,Clarence E.:“From Exodus to Exile:Black Pentecostals,Migrating Pilgrims, and Imagined Internationalism”,in: American Quarterly (59) 2007,pp. 737–757. Harwazinski, Anna Maria: “Fundamentalismus/Rigorismus”, in: Metzler Lexikon Re- ligion:Gegenwart –Alltag –Medien. Band 1. Stuttgart/Weimar 2005, pp.427–434. Herskovits,Melville: The Myth of the NegroPast. New York /London 1941. Hödl, Hans Gerald:“African Traditions Reshaped?: Discussing Models for Explaining Continuityand ChangeinCuban Santería”, in:Kovµcˇ,Milan /Gµl, Tomµsˇ (eds): Religious Change. Bratislava 2010, pp.141–148. Hurston, Zora:“Hoodoo in America”, in: The JournalofAmerican Folklore (44) 1931, pp.317–417. Karade,Baba Ifµ: The HandbookofYoruba Religious Concepts. York Beach 1994. Kidd, Thomas S. : The Great Awakening:The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colo- nial America. New Haven /London 2007. Law,Robin: The Oyo Empire c. 1600 –c.1836:AWest African Imperialism in the Era of ˙ ˙ the Atlantic Slave Trade. Aldershot 1991 (reprint of firstedition Oxford 1977). Levine, Lawrence:“Slave Songs and Slave Consciousness:AnExplorationinNeglected Sources”, in: Fulop/Raboteau1997,pp. 57–87. Lincoln, C. Eric: The BlackMuslims in America. Boston 1961. Long, Carolyn Morrow: ANew Orleans VoodooPriest:The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau. Gainsville et al. 2007. Long, Carolyn Morrow: Spiritual Merchants:Religion, Magic,and Commerce. Knoxville 2001. Lovejoy,Paul E.: Transformations in Slavery: AHistory of SlaveryinAfrica. New York 32013. MacRobert, Iain:“TheBlack Roots of Pentecostalism”, in: Fulop/Raboteau 1997, pp.295–309. Mamiya, Lawrence A.:“American Muslim Mission”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 77–88 (= Mamiya 2009a). Mamiya, Lawrence A.:“Nation of Islam”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 239–252 (= Mamiya 2009b). Michaeli, Ethan:“TheHebrew Israelites from Chicago to Dimona”, in: Chireau/Deutsch 2000,pp. 73–90.
151
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Hans Gerald Hödl
O Connor, Kathleen Malone:“TheNubian Islaamic Hebrews, Ansaaru Allah Com- munity:Jewish Teachings of an AfricanAmericanMuslim Community”,in: Chireau/ Deutsch 2000,pp. 118–150. Park, Robert E.:“TheConflict and Fusion of Cultureswith Special Reference to the Negro”, in: The Journal of Negro History (4) 1919, pp.111–133. Pinn, AnthonyB.(ed.): African-American ReligiousCultures. Santa Barbara/Denver / Oxford 2009. Pinn, Anthony B. :“Church of the Living God, Pillar of Truth for All Nations”, in: Pinn 2009,pp. 166–169 (= Pinn 2009a). Pinn, Anthony B. :“Church of God and Saints of Christ”, in: Pinn2009,pp. 152–156 (= Pinn 2009b). Pinn, Anthony B. :“Chronology of People and Events”,in: Pinn 2009,pp. 615–636 (= Pinn 2009c). Preston-Blier, Suzanne: African Vodun:Art. Psychology,and Power. Chicago/London 1995. Raboteau, Albert J. :“African-Americans,Exodus,and the American Israel”; in:John- son, Paul E. (ed.): African-American Christianity:EssaysinHistory. Berkeley /Los Angeles/London 1994, pp.1–17. Raboteau, Albert J. :“TheBlack Experience in American Evangelicalism:The Meaning of Slavery”, in: Fulop/Raboteau 1997,pp. 89–130. Raboteau, Albert J. : Slave Religion:The “Invisible” Institution in the Antebellum South. Oxford et al. 1978. Remus,Babette:“Sekte”, in: Metzler Lexikon Religion:Gegenwart –Alltag –Medien. Band 3. Stuttgart /Weimar 2005, pp.283–285. Rudolph, Kurt: Die Gnosis:Wesen und Geschichte einer spätantiken Religion. Göttingen 1994. Singer, Merrill: “Symbolic Identities in an African-American Religious Sect:The Black HebrewIsraelites”, in: Chireau/Deutsch2000,pp. 55–72. Smith, R. Drew: “Black Religious Nationalism and the Politics of Transcendence”, in: Journalofthe American AcademyofReligion (66) 1998,pp. 533–547. Smith Omari-Tunkara, Michelle: Manipulating the Sacred: Yorbµ Art, Ritual, and Re- sistanceinBrazilian CandomblØ. Detroit 2005. Stewart,C.C.: “Islam”, in:Roberts,Andrew (ed.): The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 7: From 1905 to 1940. Cambridge 1986, pp.191–222. Sulikowski, Ulrike:“Hollywoodzombie:Vodou and the Caribbean in Mainstream Cin- ema”, in:Kremser, Manfred (ed.): “AyBobo”: Afro-KaribischeReligionen.Teil 2: Voodoo. Wien 1996, pp.77–96. Thompson, RobertFarris: Flashofthe Spirit:African &Afro-American Art &Philoso- phy. New York 1984. Vincent, Theodor G. : BlackPower and the Garvey Movement. Baltimore 2006 (reprint of first edition 1970). Wallis,Roy: The Road to Total Freedom:ASociological Analysis of Scientology. London 1976. Weber, Max: Wirtschaftund Gesellschaft. Tübingen 51980. Wynia, Elly M.: ChurchofGod and Saints of Christ:The Rise of BlackJews. New York 1998.
152
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access Reversed racism:fundamentalist genealogies in African-American religions
Internet-sources http://cogasoc.org/wordpress/locations [29.01. 2016]. http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Entertainment_News_5/article_9921.shtm [23.04. 2016]. http://www.krsone.biz/temple_bio.html [29.01.2016]. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/world/middleeast/ben-ammi-ben-israel-leader-of- black-americans-who-migrated-to-israel-dies-at-75.html?_r=0[30.01.2016]. http://www.yahwehbenyahweh.com/ [30.01.2016].
153
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:44:24PM via free access